Chapter Eleven – Lines in the Sand
382 Words
Damian hadn’t slept.
The unopened bottle of scotch sat untouched on his desk, the city’s skyline glittering beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass. He was used to power, used to control—but for the first time in years, something had slipped through the cracks. Someone had reached inside his life and dared to touch what was his.
The white onesie lay on the desk in front of him like a ghost.
V.K.
Victor Kross.
The name tasted like venom.
Damian had fought men like him before—cutthroat rivals who clawed for scraps of his empire—but this was different. This wasn’t just business. It was personal. Kross had chosen the one leverage Damian couldn’t discard, couldn’t pay off, couldn’t bury in contracts or blood money.
He clenched his jaw. If Kross thinks Aisha is my weakness, then he’s about to learn what happens when you touch what belongs to me.
The sound of soft footsteps broke his thoughts.
“Damian?”
Aisha stood in the doorway, draped in his oversized robe, her hair tumbling in loose waves. Her eyes were swollen from crying, her hand resting unconsciously over her stomach. She looked small against the vast backdrop of his world, fragile in a way that twisted something deep inside him.
“You didn’t come to bed,” she whispered.
He looked at her, at the trembling courage it took for her to even stand here after the night they’d had. For the first time, Damian didn’t want her to see his rage. He wanted—strangely—to shield her from it.
“Come here.”
She hesitated, then crossed the room. When she reached him, Damian rose, pulling her gently between his arms.
Her voice was muffled against his chest. “I can’t do this, Damian. Every headline, every threat—it feels like I’m drowning. What if I’m not strong enough for this?”
He tilted her chin up until her eyes met his. “Then I’ll be strong enough for both of us.”
Her breath hitched. She wanted to believe him, but fear still shadowed her gaze.
Damian pressed a kiss to her forehead, an oath more binding than any contract he had ever signed. “Kross drew the first line tonight. Now it’s my turn.”
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